I pulled out of a deal because of protests

[Matthew Terry]

Hello BP mates,

After learning about the Seattle Autonomous Zone I decided to stop signing a contract for an SFR. This property is not in Seattle, but it is a suburb outside of a major city.

I've never lived in a time where protesters took over 6 blocks of a major city and forced a police precinct to shut down. My concern is two-fold:

1. If this is successful in Seattle, this movement could spread to several major cities.

2. Part of the demands include rent control and "de-gentrification" of neighborhoods

I'm looking at this from a purely business perspective, irrespective of politics or ideals. 

We've had a growing wealth gap for decades, people have been locked in their homes for months, the Federal Reserve printing trillions of dollars to buy debt to prop up the stock market is accelerating the wealth gap. A major wealth gap is the number one cause of massive social unrest and revolution in countries. All of these protests are bringing millions of people in close contact with each other while we are still in the middle of a pandemic. There was already this national "Cancel-Rent" movement before these protests with a simultaneous eviction ban. Evictions are facilitated by courts and police, two major points of revision for this movement.

Does anyone else see this movement as a threat to residential REI? As a new investor just starting his portfolio, is this something I need to consider?

[Joseph Cacciapaglia]

It's certainly something any investor needs to consider. This movement isn't affecting every major city in the same way though. We have had several peaceful protests here in San Antonio, and there was one or two nights with some violence downtown, but it's been nothing like what I've seen and heard about in many other major cities. In large part it's business as usual here. I have a lot of friends in the industry in NY, NJ, PA, and CA, and their experiences have been much different than mine. I can see all of this speeding up the flow of capital out of some of those areas into more landlord friendly markets.